Chapter XVI: Part 16

Each group contained auroras which appeared stationary. The intervals
to which the velocities referred were usually from five to ten
minutes, but varied widely. The velocity 109.09 was much the largest
observed, the next being 52.38; both were from observations lasting
under half a minute.

19. In 1882-1883 the direction of motion of arcs was from north to
south in 62% of the cases at Jan Mayen, and in 58% of the cases at
Cape Thorsden. This seems the more common direction in the northern
hemisphere, at least for stations to the south of the zone of maximum
frequency, but a considerable preponderance of movements towards the
north was observed in Franz Joseph Land by the Austrian Expedition of
1872-1874. The apparent motion of arcs is sometimes of a complicated
character. One end only, for example, may appear to move, as if
rotating round the other; or the two ends may move in opposite
directions, as if the arc were rotating about a vertical axis through
its summit.

20. _Height._--If an auroral arc represented a definite self-luminous portion of space of small transverse dimensions at a uniform height above the ground, its height could be accurately determined by observations made with theodolites at the two ends of a measured base, provided the base were not too short compared to the height. If a very long base is taken, it becomes increasingly open to doubt whether the portions of space emitting auroral light to the observers at the two ends are the same. There is also difficulty in ensuring that the observations shall be simultaneous, an important matter especially when the apparent velocity is considerable. If the base is short, definite results can hardly be hoped for unless the height is very moderate. Amongst the best-known theodolite determinations of height are those made at Bossekop in Norway by the French Expedition of 1838-1839 (16) and the Norwegian Expedition of 1882-1883, and those made in the latter year by the Swedes at Cape Thorsden and the Danes at Godthaab. At Bossekop and Cape Thorsden there were a considerable proportion of negative or impossible parallaxes. Much the most consistent results were those obtained at Godthaab by Paulsen (15). The base was 5.8 km. (about 3-1/2 miles) long, the ends being in the same magnetic meridian, on opposite sides of a fiord, and observations were confined to this meridian, strict simultaneity being secured by signals. Heights were calculated only when the observed parallax exceeded 1 deg., but this happened in three-fourths of the cases. The calculated heights--all referring to the lowest border of the aurora--varied from 0.6 to 67.8 km. (about 0.4 to 42 m.), the average being about 20 km. (12 m.). Regular arcs were selected in most cases, but the lowest height obtained was for a collection of rays forming a curtain which was actually situated between the two stations.

In 1885 Messrs Garde and Eherlin made similar observations at
Nanortalik near Cape Farewell in Greenland, but using a base of only
1250 metres (about 3/4 m.). Their results were very similar to
Paulsen's. On one occasion twelve observations, extending over half an
hour, were made on a single arc, the calculated heights varying in a
fairly regular fashion from 1.6 to 12.9 km. (about 1 to 8 m.). The
calculated horizontal distances of this arc varied between 5 and 24
km. (about 3 and 15 m.), the motion being sometimes towards, sometimes
away from the observers, but not apparently exceeding 3 km. (nearly 2
m.) per minute. Heights of arcs have often been calculated from the
apparent altitudes at stations widely apart in Europe or America. The
heights calculated in this way for the under surface of the arc, have
usually exceeded 100 m.; some have been much in excess of this figure.
None of the results so obtained can be accepted without reserve, but
there are several reasons for believing that the average height in
Greenland is much below that in lower latitudes. Heights have been
calculated in various less direct ways, by observing for instance the
angular altitude of the summit of an arc and the angular interval
between its extremities, and then making some assumption such as that
the portion visible to an observer may be treated as a circle whose
centre lies over the so-called auroral pole. The mean height
calculated at Arctic stations, where careful observations have been
made, in this or analogous ways, has varied from 58 km. (about 36 m.)
at Cape Thorsden (Gyllenskold) to 227 km. (about 141 m.) at Bossekop
(Bravais). The height has also been calculated on the hypothesis that
auroral light has its source where the atmospheric pressure is similar
to that at which most brilliancy is observed when electric discharges
pass in vacuum tubes. Estimates on this basis have suggested heights
of the order of 50 km. (about 31 m.). There are, of course, many
uncertainties, as the conditions of discharge in the free atmosphere
may differ widely from those in glass vessels. If the Godthaab
observations can be trusted, auroral discharges must often occur
within a few miles of the earth's surface in Arctic regions. In
confirmation of this view reference may be made to a number of
instances where observers--e.g. General Sabine, Sir John Franklin,
Prof. Selim Lemstrom, Dr David Walker (at Fort Kennedy in 1858-1859),
Captain Parry (Fort Bowen, 1825) and others--have seen aurora below
the clouds or between themselves and mountains. One or two instances
of this kind have even been described in Scotland. Prof. Cleveland
Abbe (20) has given a full historical account of the subject to which
reference may be made for further details.

21. _Brightness._--In auroral displays the brightness often varies
greatly over the illuminated area and changes rapidly. Estimates of
the intensity of the light have been based on various arbitrary
scales, such for instance as the size of type which the observer can
read at a given distance. The estimate depends in the case of reading
type on the general illumination. In other cases scales have been
employed which make the result mainly depend on the brightest part of
the display. At Jan Mayen (8) in 1882-1883 a scale was employed
running from 1, taken as corresponding to the brightness of the milky
way, to 4, corresponding to full moonlight. The following is an
analysis of the results obtained, showing the number of times the
different grades were reached:--

+------------+------+------+------+------+------------+
| Scale of | 1. | 2. | 3. | 4. | Mean |
| Intensity. | | | | | Intensity. |
+------------+------+------+------+------+------------+
| Arcs | 27 | 53 | 13 | 1 | 1.87 |
| Bands | 46 | 83 | 49 | 22 | 2.24 |
| Rays | 30 | 116 | 138 | 28 | 2.21 |
| Corona | 3 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 2.81 |
+------------+------+------+------+------+------------+

On one or two occasions at Jan Mayen auroral light is described as
making the full moon look like an ordinary gas jet in presence of
electric light, whilst rays could be seen crossing and brighter than
the moon's disk. Such extremely bright auroras seem very rare,
however, even in the Arctic. There is a general tendency for both
bands and rays to appear brightest at their lowest parts; arcs seldom
appear as bright at their summits as nearer the horizon. It is not
unusual for arcs and bands to look as if pulses or waves of light were
travelling along them; also the direction in which these pulses travel
does not seem to be wholly arbitrary. Movements to the east were twice
as numerous at Jan Mayen and thrice as numerous at Traurenberg as
movements to the west. In some cases changes of intensity take place
round the auroral zenith, simulating the effect that would be produced
by a cyclonic rotation of luminous matter. In the case of isolated
patches the intensity often waxes and wanes as if a search-light were
being thrown on and turned off.

22. _Colour._--The ordinary colour of aurora is white, usually with a distinct yellow tint in the brighter forms, but silvery white when the light is faint. When the light is intense and changing rapidly, red is not infrequently present, especially towards the lower edge. Under these circumstances, green is also sometimes visible, especially towards the zenith. Thus a bright auroral ray may seem red towards the foot and green at its summit, with yellow intervening. In some cases the green may be only a contrast effect. Other colours, e.g. violet, have occasionally been noticed but are unusual.

23. _Spectrum._--The spectrum of aurora consists of a number of lines. Numerous measurements have been made of the wave-lengths of the brightest. One line, in the yellow green, is so dominant optically as often to be described as the auroral line. Its wave-length is probably very near 5571 tenth-metres, and it is very close to, if not absolutely coincident with, a prominent line in the spectrum of krypton. This line is so characteristic that its presence or absence is the usual criterion for deciding whether an atmospheric light is aurora. The Swedish Expedition (17) of 1899-1902, engaged in measuring an arc of the meridian in Spitsbergen, were unusually well provided spectrographically, and succeeded in taking photographs of aurora in conjunction with artificial lines--chiefly of hydrogen--which led to results claiming exceptional accuracy. In the spectrograms three auroral rays--including the principal one mentioned above--were pre-eminent. For the two shorter wave-lengths, for whose measurement he claims the highest precision, the observer, J. Westman, gives the values 4276.4 and 3913.5. In addition, he assigns wave-lengths for 156 other auroral lines between wave-lengths 5205 and 3513. The following table gives the wave-lengths of the photographically brightest of these, retaining four significant figures in place of Westman's five.

TABLE VII.

+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| 4830 | 4489 | 4329 | 3997 | 3861 |
| 4709 | 4420 | 4242 | 3986 | 3804 |
| 4699 | 4371 | 4230 | 3947 | 3793 |
| 4661 | 4356 | 4225 | 3937 | 3704 |
| 4560 | 4344 | 4078 | 3880 | 3607 |
| 4550 | 4337 | 4067 | 3876 | 3589 |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+

There are a number of optically bright lines of longer wave-length. For the principal of these Angot (1) gives the following wave-lengths (unit 1 [mu][mu] or 1 X 10^(-9) metre):--630, 578, 566, 535, 523, 500.

Out of a total of 146 auroral lines, with wave-lengths longer than 3684 tenth-metres, Westman identifies 82 with oxygen or nitrogen lines at the negative pole in vacuum discharges. Amongst the lines thus identified are the two principal auroral lines having wave-lengths 4276.4 and 3913.5. The interval considered by Westman contains at least 300 oxygen and nitrogen lines, so that approximate coincidence with a number of auroral lines was almost inevitable, and an appreciable number of the coincidences may be accidental. E.C.C. Baly (21), making use of the observations of the Russian expedition in Spitsbergen in 1899, accepts as the wave-lengths of the three principal auroral lines 5570, 4276 and 3912; and he identifies all three and ten other auroral lines ranging between 5570 and 3707 with krypton lines measured by himself. In addition to these, he mentions other auroral lines as very probably krypton lines, but in their case the wave-lengths which he quotes from Paulsen (22) are given to only three significant figures, so that the identification is more uncertain. The majority of the krypton lines which Baly identifies with auroral lines require for their production a Leyden jar and spark gap.

If, as is now generally believed, aurora represents some form of
electrical discharge, it is only reasonable to suppose that the
auroral lines arise from atmospheric gases. The conditions, however,
as regards pressure and temperature under which the hypothetical
discharges take place must vary greatly in different auroras, or even
sometimes in different parts of the same aurora. Further, auroras are
often possessed of rapid motion, so that conceivably spectral lines
may receive small displacements in accordance with Doppler's
principle. Thus the differences in the wave-lengths of presumably the
same lines as measured by different Arctic observers may be only
partly due to unfavourable observational conditions. Many of the
auroral lines seen in any single aurora are exceedingly faint, so that
even their relative positions are difficult to settle with high
precision.

24. Whether or not auroral displays are ever accompanied by a
characteristic sound is a disputed question. If sound waves originate
at the seat of auroral displays they seem hardly likely to be audible
on the earth, unless the aurora comes very low and great stillness
prevails. It is thus to the Arctic one looks for evidence. According
to Captain H.P. Dawson (26), in charge of the British Polar Station at
Fort Rae in 1882-1883, "The Indians and _voyageurs_ of the Hudson Bay
Company, who often pass their nights in the open, say that it [sound]
is not uncommon ... there can be no doubt that distinct sound does
occasionally accompany certain displays of aurora." On the one
occasion when Captain Dawson says he heard it himself, "the sound was
like the swishing of a whip or the noise produced by a sharp squall of
wind in the upper rigging of a ship, and as the aurora brightened and
faded so did the sound which accompanied it." If under these
conditions the sound was really due to the aurora, the latter, as
Captain Dawson himself remarks, must have been pretty close.

25. Usually the electric potential near the ground is positive
compared to the earth and increases with the height (see ATMOSPHERIC
ELECTRICITY). Several Arctic observers, however, especially Paulsen
(18) have observed a diminution of positive potential, or even a
change to negative, for which they could suggest no explanation except
the presence of a bright aurora. Other Arctic observers have failed to
find any trace of this phenomenon. If it exists, it is presumably
confined to cases when the auroral discharge comes unusually low.

26. _Artificial Phenomena resembling Aurora._--At Sodankyla, the
station occupied by the Finnish Arctic Expedition of 1882-1883, Selim
Lemstrom and Biese (23) described and gave drawings of optical
phenomena which they believed to be artificially produced aurora. A
number of metallic points, supported on insulators, were connected by
wires enclosing several hundred square metres on the top of a hill.
Sometimes a Holtz machine was employed, but even without it
illumination resembling aurora was seen on several occasions,
extending apparently to a considerable height. In the laboratory, Kr.
Birkeland (19) has produced phenomena bearing a striking resemblance
to several forms of aurora. His apparatus consists of a vacuum vessel
containing a magnetic sphere--intended to represent the earth--and the
phenomena are produced by sending electric discharges through the
vessel.

27. _Theories._--A great variety of theories have been advanced to
account for aurora. All or nearly all the most recent regard it as
some form of electrical discharge. Birkeland (19) supposes the
ultimate cause to be cathode rays emanating from the sun; C. Nordmann
(24) replaces the cathode rays by Hertzian waves; while Svante
Arrhenius (25) believes that negatively charged particles are driven
through the sun's atmosphere by the Maxwell-Bartoli repulsion of light
and reach the earth's atmosphere. For the size and density of
particles which he considers most likely, Arrhenius calculates the
time required to travel from the sun as forty-six hours. By modifying
the hypothesis as to the size and density, times appreciably longer or
shorter than the above would be obtained. Cathode rays usually have a
velocity about a tenth that of light, but in exceptional cases it may
approach a third of that of light. Hertzian waves have the velocity of
light itself. On either Birkeland's or Nordmann's theory, the electric
impulse from the sun acts indirectly by creating secondary cathode
rays in the earth's atmosphere, or ionizing it so that discharges due
to natural differences of potential are immensely facilitated. The
ionized condition must be supposed to last to a greater or less extent
for a good many hours to account for aurora being seen throughout the
whole night. The fact that at most places the morning shows a marked
decay of auroral frequency and intensity as compared to the evening,
the maximum preceding midnight by several hours, is certainly
favourable to theories which postulate ionization of the atmosphere by
some cause or other emanating from the sun.

AUTHORITIES.--The following works are numbered according to the
references in the text:--(1) A. Angot, _Les Aurores polaires_ (Paris,
1895); (2) H. Fritz, _Das Polarlicht_ (Leipzig, 1881); (3) Svante
August Arrhenius, _Lehrbuch der kosmischen Physik_; (4) Joseph
Lovering, "On the Periodicity of the Aurora Borealis," _Mem. American
Acad._ vol. x. (1868); (5) Sophus Tromholt, _Catalog der in Norwegen
bis Juni 1878 beobachteten Nordlichter_; (6) _Observations
internationales polaires_ (1882-1883), _Expedition Danoise_, tome i.
"Aurores boreales"; (7) Carlheim-Gyllenskold, "Aurores boreales" in
_Observations faites au Cap Thorsden Spitzberg par l'expedition
suedoise_, tome ii. 1; (8) "Die Osterreichische Polar Station Jan
Mayen" in _Die Internationale Polarforschung_, 1882-1883, Bd. ii.
Abth. 1; (9) Henryk Arctowski, "Aurores australes" in _Expedition
antarctique belge ... Voyage du S. Y. "Belgica"_; (10) G.C. Amdrup,
_Observations ... faites par l'expedition danoise_; H. Ravn,
_Observations de l'aurore boreale de Tasiusak_; (11) _K. Sven.
Vet.-Akad. Hand_. Bd. 31, Nos. 2, 3, &c.; (12) _Sitz. d. k. Akad. d.
Wiss._ (Vienna), Math. Naturw. Classe, Bd. xcvii. Abth. iia, 1888;
(13) _Proc. Roy. Soc._, 1906, lxxvii. A, 141; (14) _Kongl. Sven.
Vet.-Akad. Hand._ Bd. 15, No. 5, Bd. 18, No. 1; (15) _Bull. Acad. Roy.
Danoise_, 1889, p. 67; (16) _Voyages ... pendant les annees 1838, 1839
et 1840 sur ... la Recherche_, "Aurores boreales," by MM. Lottin,
Bravais, &c.; (17) _Missions scientifiques ... au Spitzberg ... en
1899-1902, Mission suedoise_, tome ii. VIII^e Section, C. "Aurores
boreales"; (18) _Bull. Acad. R. des Sciences de Danemark_, 1894, p.
148; (19) Kr. Birkeland, _Expedition norvegienne 1899-1900 pour
l'etude des aurores boreales_ (Christiania, 1901); (20) _Terrestrial
Magnetism_, vol. iii. (1898), pp. 5, 53, 149; (21) _Astrophysical
Journal_, 1904, xix. p. 187; (22) _Rapports presentes au Congres
International de Physique reuni a Paris_, 1900, iii. 438; (23)
_Expedition polaire finlandaise_ (1882-1884), tome iii.; (24) Charles
Nordmann, _Theses presentees a la Faculte des Sciences de Paris_
(1903); (25) _Terrestrial Magnetism_, vol. 10, 1905, p. 1; (26)
_Observations of the International Polar Expeditions 1882-1883 Fort
Rae_ ... by Capt. H.P. Dawson, R.A. (C. Ch.)

AURUNCI, the name given by the Romans to a tribe which in historical times occupied only a strip of coast on either side of the Mons Massicus between the Volturnus and the Liris, although it must at an earlier period have extended over a considerably wider area. Their own name for themselves in the 4th century B.C. was _Ausones_, and in Greek writers we find the name _Ausonia_ applied to Latium and Campania (see Strabo v. p. 247; Aristotle, _Pol._ iv. (vii.) 10; Dion. Hal. i. 72), while in the Augustan poets (e.g. Virgil, _Aen._ vii. 795) it is used as one of many synonyms for Italy. In history the tribe appears only for a brief space, from 340 to 295 B.C. (Mommsen, _C.I.L._ x. pp. 451, 463, 465), and their struggle with the Romans ended in complete extermination; their territory was parcelled out between the Latin colonies of Cales (Livy viii. 16) and Suessa Aurunca (_id._ ix. 28) which took the place of an older town called _Ausona_ (_id._ ix. 25; viii. 15), and the maritime colonies Sinuessa (the older _Vescia_) and Minturnae (both in 295 B.C., Livy x. 21). The coin formerly attributed to Suessa Aurunca on the strength of its supposed legend _Aurunkud_ has now been certainly referred to Naples (see R.S. Conway, _Italic Dialects_, 145, and _Verner's law in Italy_, p. 78, where the change of s to r is explained as probably due to the Latin conquest). Seeing that the tribe was blotted out at the beginning of the 3rd century B.C., we can scarcely wonder that no record of its speech survives; but its geographical situation and the frequency of the _co_-suffix in that strip of coast (besides _Aurunci_ itself we have the names _Vescia_, _Mons Massicus_, _Marica_, _Glanica_ and _Caedicii_; see _Italic Dialects_, pp. 283 f.) rank them beyond doubt with their neighbours the Volsci (q.v.). (R. S. C.)

AUSCULTATION (from Lat. _auscultare_, to listen), a term in medicine, applied to the method employed by physicians for determining, by the sense of hearing, the condition of certain internal organs. The ancient physicians appear to have practised a kind of auscultation, by which they were able to detect the presence of air or fluids in the cavities of the chest and abdomen. Still no general application of this method of investigation was resorted to, or was indeed possible, till the advance of the study of anatomy led to correct ideas regarding the locality, structure and uses of the various organs of the body, and the alterations produced in them by disease. In 1761 Leopold Auenbrugger (1722-1809), a Viennese physician, published his _Inventum Novum_, describing the art of percussion in reference more especially to diseases of the chest. This consisted in tapping with the fingers the surface of the body, so as to elicit sounds by which the comparative resonance of the subjacent parts or organs might be estimated. Auenbrugger's method attracted but little attention till the French physician J.N. Corvisart (1755-1828) in 1808 demonstrated its great practical importance, and then its employment in the diagnosis of affections of the chest soon became general. Percussion was originally practised in the manner above mentioned (_immediate percussion_), but subsequently the method of _mediate percussion_ was introduced by P.A. Piorry (1794-1879). It is accomplished by placing upon the spot to be examined some solid substance, upon which the percussion strokes are made with the fingers. For this purpose a thin oval piece of ivory (called a _pleximeter_, or stroke-measurer) may be used, with a small hammer; but one or more fingers of the left hand applied flat upon the part answer equally well, and this is the method which most physicians adopt. Percussion must be regarded as a necessary part of auscultation, particularly in relation to the examination of the chest; for the physician who has made himself acquainted with the normal condition of that part of the body in reference to percussion is thus able to recognize by the ear alterations of resonance produced by disease. But percussion alone, however important in diagnosis, could manifestly convey only limited and imperfect information, for it could never indicate the nature or extent of functional disturbance.

In 1819 the distinguished French physician R.T.H. Laennec (1781-1826) published his _Traite de L'auscultation mediate_, embodying the present methods of auscultatory examination, and venturing definite conclusions based on years of his own study. He also invented the stethoscope ([Greek: staethos], the breast, and [Greek: skopein], to examine). Since then many men have widened the scope of auscultation, notably Skoda, Wintrich, A. Geigel, Th. Weber and Gerhardt. According to Laennec the essential of a good stethoscope was its capability of intensifying the tone vibrations. But since his time the opinion of experts on this matter has somewhat changed, and there are now two definite schools. The first and older condemns the resonating stethoscope, maintaining that the tones are bound to be altered; the second and younger school warmly advocates its use. In America, more than elsewhere, there is a type of phonendoscope much used by the younger men, which has the advantage that it can be used when the older type of instrument fails, viz. when the patient is recumbent and too ill to be moved. By slipping it beneath the patient's back a fairly accurate idea of the breathing over the bases of the lungs behind can often be obtained.

Stethoscopes have been made of many forms and materials. They usually consist of a hollow stem of wood, hard rubber or metal, with an enlarged tip slightly funnel-shaped at one end, and an ear-plate with a hole in the middle, fastened perpendicularly to the other end. To enable the instrument to be more conveniently carried, the ear-plate can be unscrewed from the tube. The length of the stem of the instrument is of minor importance, but its bore should be as nearly as possible that of the entrance of the external ear. A flexible stethoscope in general use both in England and America transmits the sound from a funnel through tubes to the ears of the observer. This is the common form of a binaural resonating stethoscope. It is convenient and gives a loud tone, but is condemned by the older school, who say that the resonance is confusing, and that the slightest movement in handling gives rise to perplexing murmurs. Nevertheless, it is this form of instrument which has by far the greatest vogue. It is probable, however, that the most skilled physicians of all find a special use in each form, the monaural non-resonating type being more sensitive to high-pitched sounds, and of greater assistance in differentiating the sounds and murmurs of the heart, the ordinary binaural form being more useful in examining the lungs and other organs. In using the stethoscope, it must be applied very carefully, so that the edge of the funnel makes an air-tight connexion with the skin, and in the monaural form the ear must be but lightly applied to the ear-plate, not pressing heavily on the patient.

The numerous diseases affecting the lungs can now be recognized and discriminated from each other with a precision which, but for auscultation and the stethoscope, would have been altogether unattainable. The same holds good in the case of the heart, whose varied and often complex forms of disease can, by auscultation, be identified with striking accuracy. But in addition to these its main uses, auscultation is found to render great assistance in the investigation of many obscure internal affections, such as aneurysms and certain diseases of the oesophagus and stomach. To the accoucheur the stethoscope yields valuable aid in the detection of some forms of uterine tumours, and especially in the diagnosis of pregnancy--the only evidence now accepted as absolutely diagnostic of that condition being the hearing of the foetal heart sounds.

AUSONIUS, DECIMUS MAGNUS (c. 310-395), Roman poet and rhetorician, was born at Burdigala [_Bordeaux_]. He received an excellent education, especially in grammar and rhetoric, but confesses that his progress in Greek was unsatisfactory. Having completed his studies, he practised for some time as an advocate, but his inclination lay in the direction of teaching. He set up (in 334) a school of rhetoric in his native place, which was largely attended, his most famous pupil being Paulinus, afterwards bishop of Nola. After thirty years of this work, he was summoned by Valentinian to the imperial court, to undertake the education of Gratian, the heir-apparent. The prince always entertained the greatest regard for his tutor, and after his accession bestowed upon him the highest titles and honours, culminating in the consulship (379). After the murder of Gratian (383), Ausonius retired to his estates near Burdigala. He appears to have been a (not very enthusiastic) convert to Christianity. He died about 395.

His most important extant works are: in prose, _Gratiarum Actio_, an address of thanks to Gratian for his elevation to the consulship; _Periochae_, summaries of the books of the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_; and one or two _epistolae_; in verse, _Epigrammata_, including several free translations from the Greek Anthology; _Ephemeris_, the occupations of a day; _Parentalia_ and _Commemoratio Professorum Burdigalensium_, on deceased relatives and literary friends; _Epitaphia_, chiefly on the Trojan heroes; _Caesares_, memorial verses on the Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Elagabalus; _Ordo Nobilium Urbium_, short poems on famous cities; _Ludus Septem Sapientum_, speeches delivered by the Seven Sages of Greece; _Idyllia_, of which the best-known are the _Mosella_, a descriptive poem on the Moselle, and the infamous _Cento Nuptialis_. We may also mention _Cupido Cruciatus_, Cupid on the cross; _Technopaegion_, a literary trifle consisting of a collection of verses ending in monosyllables; _Eclogarum Liber_, on astronomical and astrological subjects; _Epistolae_, including letters to Paulinus and Symmachus; lastly, _Praefatiunculae_, three poetical epistles, one to the emperor Theodosius. Ausonius was rather a man of letters than a poet; his wide reading supplied him with material for a great variety of subjects, but his works exhibit no traces of a true poetic spirit; even his versification, though ingenious, is frequently defective.

There are no MSS. containing the whole of Ausonius's works. Editio
princeps, 1472; editions by Scaliger 1575, Souchay 1730, Schenkl 1883,
Peiper 1886; cf. _Mosella_, Bocking 1845, de la Ville de Mirmont
(critical edition with translation) 1889, and _De Ausonii Mosella_,
1892, Hosius 1894. See Deydou, _Un Poete bordelais_ (1868); Everat,
_De Ausonii Operibus_ (1885); Jullian, _Ausone et Bordeaux_ (1893); C.
Verrier and R. de Courmont, _Les Epigrammes d'Ausone_ (translation
with bibliography, 1905); R. Pichon, _Les Derviers Ecrivains profanes_
(1907).

AUSSIG (Czech _Ousti nad Labem_), a town of Bohemia, Austria, 68 m. N. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 37,255, mostly German. It is situated in a mountainous district, at the confluence of the Biela and the Elbe, and, besides being an active river port, is an important junction of the northern Bohemian railways. Aussig has important industries in chemicals, textiles, glass and boat-building, and carries on an active trade in coal from the neighbouring mines, stone and stoneware, corn, fruit and wood. It was the birthplace of the painter, Raphael Mengs (1728-1779). Aussig is mentioned as a trading centre as early as 993. It was made a city by Ottokar II. in the latter part of the 13th century. In 1423 it was pledged by King Sigismund to the elector Frederick of Meissen, who occupied it with a Saxon garrison. In 1426 it was besieged by the Hussites, who on the 16th of June, though only 25,000 strong, defeated a German army of 70,000, which had been sent to its relief, with great slaughter. The town was stormed and sacked next day. After lying waste for three years, it was rebuilt in 1429. It suffered much during the Thirty Years' and Seven Years' Wars, and in 1830 it had only 1400 inhabitants. Not far from Aussig is the village of Kulm, where, on the 29th and 30th of August 1813, a battle took place between the French under Vandamme and an allied army of Austrians, Prussians and Russians. The French were defeated, and Vandamme surrendered with his army of 10,000 men.

AUSTEN, JANE (1775-1817), English novelist, was born on the 16th of December 1775 at the parsonage of Steventon, in Hampshire, a village of which her father, the Rev. George Austen, was rector. She was the youngest of seven children. Her mother was Cassandra Leigh, niece of Theophilus Leigh, a dry humorist, and for fifty years master of Balliol, Oxford. The life of no woman of genius could have been more uneventful than Miss Austen's. She did not marry, and she never left home except on short visits, chiefly to Bath. Her first sixteen years were spent in the rectory at Steventon, where she began early to trifle with her pen, always jestingly, for family entertainment. In 1801 the Austens moved to Bath, where Mr Austen died in 1805, leaving only Mrs Austen, Jane and her sister Cassandra, to whom she was always deeply attached, to keep up the home; his sons were out in the world, the two in the navy, Francis William and Charles, subsequently rising to admiral's rank. In 1805 the Austen ladies moved to Southampton, and in 1809 to Chawton, near Alton, in Hampshire, and there Jane Austen remained till 1817, the year of her death, which occurred at Winchester, on July 18th, as a memorial window in the cathedral testifies.

During her placid life Miss Austen never allowed her literary work to interfere with her domestic duties: sewing much and admirably, keeping house, writing many letters and reading aloud. Though, however, her days were quiet and her area circumscribed, she saw enough of middle-class provincial society to find a basis on which her dramatic and humorous faculties might build, and such was her power of searching observation and her sympathetic imagination that there are not in English fiction more faithful representations of the life she knew than we possess in her novels. She had no predecessors in this genre. Miss Austen's "little bit (two inches wide) of ivory" on which she worked "with so fine a brush"--her own phrases--was her own invention.

Her best-known, if not her best work, _Pride and Prejudice_, was also her first. It was written between October 1796 and August 1797, although, such was the blindness of publishers, not issued until 1813, two years after _Sense and Sensibility_, which was written, on an old scenario called "Eleanor and Marianne," in 1797 and 1798. Miss Austen's inability to find a publisher for these stories, and for _Northanger Abbey_, written in 1798 (although it is true that she sold that MS. in 1803 for L10 to a Bath bookseller, only, however, to see it locked away in a safe for some years, to be gladly resold to her later), seems to have damped her ardour; for there is no evidence that between 1798 and 1809 she wrote anything but the fragment called "The Watsons," after which year she began to revise her early work for the press. Her other three books belong to a later date--_Mansfield Park_, _Emma_ and _Persuasion_ being written between 1811 and 1816. The years of publication were _Sense and Sensibility_, 1811; _Pride and Prejudice_, 1813; _Mansfield Park_, 1814; and _Emma_, 1816--all in their author's lifetime. _Persuasion_ and _Northanger Abbey_ were published posthumously in 1818. All were anonymous, agreeably to their author's retiring disposition.

Although _Pride and Prejudice_ is the novel which in the mind of the public is most intimately associated with Miss Austen's name, both _Mansfield Park_ and _Emma_ are finer achievements--at once riper and richer and more elaborate. But the fact that _Pride and Prejudice_ is more single-minded, that the love story of Elizabeth Bennet and D'Arcy is not only _of_ the book but _is_ the book (whereas the love story of Emma and Mr Knightley and Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram have parallel streams), has given _Pride and Prejudice_ its popularity above the others among readers who are more interested by the course of romance than by the exposition of character. Entirely satisfactory as is _Pride and Prejudice_ so far as it goes, it is, however, thin beside the niceness of analysis of motives in _Emma_ and the wonderful management of two housefuls of young lovers that is exhibited in _Mansfield Park_.

It has been generally agreed by the best critics that Miss Austen has never been approached in her own domain. No one indeed has attempted any close rivalry. No other novelist has so concerned herself or himself with the trivial daily comedy of small provincial family life, disdaining equally the assistance offered by passion, crime and religion. Whatever Miss Austen may have thought privately of these favourite ingredients of fiction, she disregarded all alike when she took her pen in hand. Her interest was in life's little perplexities of emotion and conduct; her gaze was steadily ironical. The most untoward event in any of her books is Louisa's fall from the Cobb at Lyme Regis, in _Persuasion_; the most abandoned, Maria's elopement with Crawford, in _Mansfield Park_. In pure ironical humour Miss Austen's only peer among novelists is George Meredith, and indeed _Emma_ may be said to be her _Egoist_, or the _Egoist_ his _Emma_. But irony and fidelity to the fact alone would not have carried her down the ages. To these gifts she allied a perfect sense of dramatic progression and an admirably lucid and flowing prose style which makes her stories the easiest reading.

Recognition came to Miss Austen slowly. It was not until quite recent times that to read her became a necessity of culture. But she is now firmly established as an English classic, standing far above Miss Burney (Madame d'Arblay) and Miss Edgeworth, who in her day were the popular women novelists of real life, while Mrs Radcliffe and "Monk" Lewis, whose supernatural fancies' _Northanger Abbey_ was written in part to ridicule, are no longer anything but names. Although, however, she has become only lately a household word, Miss Austen had always her panegyrists among the best intellects--such as Coleridge, Tennyson, Macaulay, Scott, Sydney Smith, Disraeli and Archbishop Whately, the last of whom may be said to have been her discoverer. Macaulay, whose adoration of Miss Austen's genius was almost idolatrous, considered _Mansfield Park_ her greatest feat; but many critics give the palm to _Emma_. Disraeli read _Pride and Prejudice_ seventeen times. Scott's testimony is often quoted: "That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements, feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I have ever met with. The big bow-wow I can do myself like any one going; but the exquisite touch which renders commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment is denied to me."

Many monographs on Miss Austen have been written, in addition to the
authorized _Life_ by her nephew J.E. Austen Leigh in 1870, and the
collection of her _Letters_ edited by Lord Brabourne in 1884. The
chief books on her and around her are _Jane Austen_, by S.F. Malden
(1889); _Jane Austen_, by Goldwin Smith (1890); _Jane Austen: Her
Contemporaries and Herself_, by W.H. Pollock; _Jane Austen: Her Homes
and Her Friends_, by Constance Hill (1902); _Jane Austen and Her
Times_, by G.E. Mitton (1905); _Jane Austen's Sailor Brothers_, by J
H. and E.C. Hubback (1906); and the essay on her in Lady Richmond
(Thackeray) Ritchie's _Book of Sibyls_ (1883). (E. V. L.)

AUSTERLITZ (Czech _Slavkov_), a town of Austria, in Moravia, 15 m. E.S.E. of Brunn by rail. Pop. (1900) 3145, mostly Czech. It contains a magnificent palace belonging to the prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, and a beautiful church.

The great battle in which the French under Napoleon I. defeated the Austrians and Russians on the 2nd of December 1805, was fought in the country to the west of Austerlitz, the position of Napoleon's left wing being almost equi-distant from Brunn and from Austerlitz. The wooded hills to the northward throw out to the south and south-west long spurs, between which are the low valleys of several rivers and brooks. The scene of the most important fighting was the Pratzen plateau. The famous "lakes" in the southern part of the field were artificial ponds, which have long since been drained. On the west or Brunn side of the Goldbach is another and lower ridge, which formed in the battle the first position of the French right and centre. On the other wing is the mass of hills from which the spurs and streams descend: here the Olmutz-Brunn road passes. The road from Brunn to Vienna, Napoleon's presumed line of retreat, runs in a southerly direction, and near the village of Raigern (3 m. west of Monitz) is very close to the extreme right of the French position, a fact which had a great influence on the course of the battle. (The course of events which led to the action is described under NAPOLEONIC CAMPAIGNS.) Napoleon, falling back before the advance of the allied Austrians and Russians from Olmutz, bivouacked west of the Goldbach, whilst the allies, holding, near Austerlitz, the junction of the roads from Olmutz and from Hungary, formed up in the valleys east of the Pratzen heights. The cavalry of both sides remained inactive, Napoleon's by express order, the enemy's seemingly from mere negligence, since they had 177 squadrons at their disposal. Napoleon, having determined to fight, as usual called up every available battalion; the splendid III. corps of Davout only arrived upon the field after a heavy march, late on the night of December 1st. The plan of the allies was to attack Napoleon's right, and to cut him off from Vienna, and their advanced guard began, before dark on the 1st of December, to skirmish towards Telnitz. At that moment Napoleon was in the midst of his troops, thousands of whom had made their bivouac-straw into torches in his honour. The glare of these seemed to the allies to betoken the familiar device of lighting fires previous to a retreat, and thus confirmed them in the impression which Napoleon's calculated timidity had given. Thus encouraged, those who desired an immediate battle soon gained the upper hand in the councils of the tsar and the emperor Francis. The attack orders for the 2nd of December (drawn up by the Austrian general Weyrother, and explained by him to a council of superior officers, of whom some were hostile, the greater part indifferent, and the chief Russian member, General Kutusov, asleep) gave the five columns and the reserve, into which the Austro-Russian army was organized, the following tasks: the first and second (Russians) to move south-westward behind the Pratzen ridge towards Telnitz and Sokolnitz; the third (Russian) to cross the southern end of the plateau, and come into line on the right of the first two; the fourth (Austrians and Russians under Kolowrat) on the right of the third to advance towards Kobelnitz. An Austrian advanced guard preceded the 1st and 2nd columns. Farther still on the right the 5th column (cavalry under Prince John of Liechtenstein) was to hold the northern part of the plateau, south of the Brunn-Olmutz road; across the road itself was the corps of Prince Bagration, and in rear of Liechtenstein's corps was the reserve (Russians under the grand-duke Constantine). Thus, the farther the four main columns penetrated into the French right wing, the wider would the gap become between Bagration and Kolowrat, and Liechtenstein's squadrons could not form a serious obstacle to a heavy attack of Napoleon's centre. The whole plan was based upon defective information and preconceived ideas; it has gone down to history as a classical example of bad generalship, and its author Weyrother, who was perhaps nothing worse than a pedant, as a charlatan.

Napoleon, on the other hand, with the exact knowledge of the powers of his men, which was the secret of his generalship, entrusted nearly half of his line of battle to a division (Legrand's) of Soult's corps, which was to be supported by Davout, some of whose brigades had marched, from Vienna, 90 m. in forty-eight hours. But the ground which this thin line was to hold against three columns of the enemy was marshy and densely intersected by obstacles, and the III. corps was the best in the _Grande Armee_, while its leader was perhaps the ablest of all Napoleon's marshals. The rest of the army formed in the centre and left. "Whilst they march to turn my right," said Napoleon in the inspiriting proclamation which he issued on the eve of the battle, "they present me their flank," and the great counterstroke was to be delivered against the Pratzen heights by the French centre. This was composed of Soult's corps, with Bernadotte's in second line. On the left, around the hill called by the French the Santon (which was fortified) was Lannes' corps, supported by the cavalry reserve under Murat. The general reserve consisted of the Guard and Oudinot's grenadiers.

The attack of the allies was begun by the first three columns, which moved down from their bivouacs behind the Pratzen plateau before dawn on the 2nd, towards Telnitz and Sokolnitz. The Austrian advanced guard engaged at daybreak, and the French in Telnitz made a vigorous defence; both parties were reinforced, and Legrand drew upon himself, in fulfilling his mission, the whole weight of the allied attack. The contest was long and doubtful, but the Russians gradually drove back Legrand and a part of Davout's corps; numerous attacks both of infantry and cavalry were made, and by the successive arrival of reinforcements each side in turn received fresh impetus. Finally, at about 10 A.M., the allies were in possession of the villages on the Goldbach from Sokolnitz southwards, and Davout's line of battle had reformed more than a mile to rearward, still, however, maintaining touch with the French centre on the Goldbach at Kobelnitz. Between the two lines the fighting continued almost to the close of the battle. With 12,500 men of all arms the Marshal held in front of him over 40,000 of the enemy.

In the centre, the defective arrangements of the allied staff had delayed the 4th column (Kolowrat), the line of march of which was crossed by Liechtenstein's cavalry moving in the opposite direction. The objective of this column was Kobelnitz, and the two emperors and Kutusov accompanied it. The delay had, however, opened a gap between Kolowrat and the 3rd column on his left; and towards this gap, and the denuded Pratzen plateau, Napoleon sent forward St Hilaire's division of Soult's corps for the decisive attack. Kutusov was pursuing this march to the south-west when he was surprised by the swift advance of Soult's men on the plateau itself. Napoleon had here double the force of the allies; Kutusov, however, displayed great energy, changed front to his right and called up his reserves. The French did not win the plateau without a severe struggle. St Hilaire's (the right centre) division was fiercely engaged by Kolowrat's column, General Miloradovich opposed the left centre attack under Vandamme, but the French leaders were two of the best fighting generals in their army. The rearmost troops of the Russian 2nd column, not yet committed to the fight on the Goldbach, made a bold counter stroke against St Hilaire's right flank, but were repulsed, and Soult now turned to relieve the pressure on Davout by attacking Sokolnitz. The Russians in Sokolnitz surrendered, an opportune cavalry charge further discomfited the allied left, and the Pratzen plateau was now in full possession of the French. Even the Russian Guard failed to shake Vandamme's hold. In the meanwhile Lannes and Murat had been engaged in the defence of the Santon. Here the allied leaders displayed the greatest vigour, but they were unable to drive back the French. The cavalry charges in this quarter are celebrated in the history of the mounted arm; and Kellermann, the hero of Marengo, won fresh laurels against the cavalry of Liechtenstein's command. The French not only held their ground, but steadily advanced and eventually forced back the allies on Austerlitz, thereby barring their retreat on Olmutz. The last serious attempt of the allies in the centre led to some of the hardest fighting of the day; the Russian Imperial Guard under the grand-duke Constantine pressed closely upon St Hilaire and Vandamme on the plateau, and only gave way when the French Guard and the Grenadiers came into action. After the "Chevalier Guards" had been routed by Marshal Bessieres and the Guard cavalry, the allies had no more hope of victory; orders had already been sent to Buxhowden, who commanded the three columns engaged against Davout, to retreat on Austerlitz. No further attempt was made on the plateau, which was held by the French from Pratzen to the Olmutz road. The allied army was cut in two, and the last confused struggle of the three Russian columns on the Goldbach was one for liberty only. The fighting in Telnitz was perhaps the hardest of the whole battle, but the inevitable retreat, every part of which was now under the fire of the French on the plateau, was terribly costly. Soult now barred the way to Austerlitz, and the allies turned southward towards Satschan. As they retreated, the ice of the Satschan pond was broken up by the French artillery, and many of the fugitives were drowned. In the twelve hours from 7 A.M. to nightfall, the 65,000 French troops had lost 6800 men, or about 10%; the allies (82,500 engaged) had 12,200 killed and wounded, and left in the enemy's hands 15,000 prisoners (many wounded) and 133 guns.

AUSTIN, ALFRED (1835- ), English poet-laureate, was born at Headingley, near Leeds, on the 30th of May 1835. His father, Joseph Austin, was a merchant of the city of Leeds; his mother, a sister of Joseph Locke, M.P. for Honiton. Mr Austin was educated at Stonyhurst, Oscott, and London University, where he graduated in 1853. He was called to the bar four years later, and practised as a barrister for a short time; but in 1861, after two comparatively false starts in poetry and fiction, he made his first noteworthy appearance as a writer with a satire called _The Season_, which contained incisive lines, and was marked by some promise both in wit and observation. In 1870 he published a volume of criticism, _The Poetry of the Period_, which was again conceived in a spirit of satirical invective, and attacked Tennyson, Browning, Matthew Arnold and Swinburne in no half-hearted fashion. The book aroused some discussion at the time, but its judgments were extremely uncritical. In 1881 Mr Austin returned to verse with a tragedy, _Savonarola_, to which he added _Soliloquies_ in 1882, _Prince Lucifer_ in 1887, _England's Darling_ in 1896, _The Conversion of Winckelmann_ in 1897, &c. A keen Conservative in politics, for several years he edited _The National Review_, and wrote leading articles for _The Standard_. On Tennyson's death in 1892 it was felt that none of the then living poets, except Swinburne or William Morris, who were outside consideration on other grounds, was of sufficient distinction to succeed to the laurel crown, and for several years no new poet-laureate was nominated. In the interval the claims of one writer and another were much canvassed, but eventually, in 1896, Mr Austin was appointed. As poet-laureate, his occasional verses did not escape adverse criticism; his hasty poem in praise of the Jameson Raid in 1896 being a notable instance. The most effective characteristic of Mr Austin's poetry, as of the best of his prose, is a genuine and intimate love of nature. His prose idylls, _The Garden that I love_ and _In Veronica's Garden_, are full of a pleasant, open-air flavour, which is also the outstanding feature of his _English Lyrics_. His lyrical poems are wanting in spontaneity and individuality, but many of them possess a simple, orderly charm, as of an English country lane. He has, indeed, a true love of England, sometimes not without a suspicion of insularity, but always fresh and ingenuous. A drama by him, _Flodden Field_, was acted at His Majesty's theatre in 1903.

AUSTIN, JOHN (1790-1859), English jurist, was born on the 3rd of March 1790. His father was the owner of flour mills at Ipswich and in the neighbourhood, and was in good circumstances. John was the eldest of five brothers. One of his brothers, Charles (1799-1874), obtained great distinction at the bar. John Austin entered the army at a very early age; he is said to have been only sixteen. He served with his regiment under Lord William Bentinck in Malta and Sicily. He seems to have liked his profession, and to have joined in the amusements and even in the follies of his brother officers. Yet it appears from a journal kept by him at the time that he occupied himself with studies of a far more serious kind than is common amongst young officers in the army. He notes having read in the course of one year Dugald Stewart's _Philosophical Essays_, Drummond's _Academical Questions_, Enfield's _History of Philosophy_, and Mitford's _History of Greece_, and upon all of these he makes observations which disclose much thought and a capacity for criticism which must have come from extensive reading elsewhere. The prevailing note of this journal is one of bitter self-depreciation. He says in it that the retrospect of the past year (1811) "has hardly given rise to one single feeling of satisfaction," and farther on he says that "indolence, always the prominent vice of my character," has "assumed over me an empire I almost despair of shaking off." It is difficult to believe that a man only just of age, whose serious reading consisted of such books, and who (as appears from the same journal) was in the habit of turning to the classics as an alternative, could have deserved the reproach of indolence.

In 1812, he resigned his commission in the army, and returned home. He then began to read law in the chambers of a barrister. He was called to the bar in the year 1818, and joined the Norfolk circuit, but he never obtained any large practice, and he finally retired from the bar in 1825. In 1819 he married Sarah Taylor (see AUSTIN, SARAH).